Open post

[myagents]

art by rockafellerrrr on Tumblr. This is the piece that made me realize that Price belongs in sparkles.

New to rp, coming from a background of comedically serious in character parody on tumblr, now available on Twitter myagents (https://twitter.com/AidenPriceless?s=09). Up for both crack and serious scenarios.


AUs:

1. Price survives on Chorus and retires, spending time observing Others
   
   
2. Price survives on Chorus but is arrested and put to do community service
   
3. Modern day/Pre-pfl au, where Price is just a 'regular' evil doctor.

Prompts:

1. While loyal to the Director, he's very much fascinated by the Chairman as he believes that there has to be some interesting psychological scar under the boring quest for money.
   
2. Even the smallest amount of distress he can cause in Others brings him great sexual fulfillment.
   
3. He sees the Director as a buffet of mental illnesses, and he's hungry! Despite being content with their current work relationship he'd love to find out more about his boss to have a more entertaining stay, and is very nosy…

Comments

During the Project, after hours

[determinist]

It had been a long day, what with all the training the agents required and the fussing he needed to do with the coding for the AIs and such. He was exhausted, as he usually was after putting in a long day, but he still needed to get a couple of things done. He went to the ward room, where he and the Counselor and very few others had the chance to relax and grab a meal, skimming through his datapad as he methodically chewed his dinner.

Next thing he knew he was dropping his datapad, and his head was bent forward as though he'd been asleep. He cursed under his breath, leaned forward to grab the datapad, and sat up stiffly. Hopefully no one had caught that little piece of evidence that he was overworked. There were some important missions coming up and he couldn't afford to take any time off.

And by 'no one' he mainly means Aiden. Aiden is the only one with the ability to order him around at all.

Re: During the Project, after hours

[myagents]

As always, Aiden was observing attentively, and of course he did notice. Poor Director liked to power through his own exhaustion to get things done. So much despair on display. If he was a naïve baby born yesterday, perhaps Aiden wouldn't notice that this was hardly about getting things done rather than a mix of tying his self worth to how far he could go and a genuine will to hurt himself. So strong and fragile at the same time, Aiden thought he was a beautiful human being, not less sensitive than a cute puppy...And much like puppies, humans can subconsciously respond to certain commands:

"It would be wise to get some rest," he approached the Director to sit in front of him, gleefully aware that framing a sentence that only implies the other's wisdom if they agree is an evergreen trick "but I can bring you a cup of coffee if you please."

Which one was he going to choose?

[determinist]

The Director looks at the Counselor's calm, yet somehow smug, face.

"Counselor, please," he mutters, sounding less enthused about the words than he typically was on the bridge when he said it. He knew he needed to get some sleep. And the Counselor knew he wasn't likely to go get some, not at this early point in the evening.

"You know how I prefer to drink it," he finally adds.

[myagents]

"Of course." he nods and obeys, walking to the coffee maker, taking his sweet time in bringing the cup to the Director. He figures the Director most likely wants him to spike it with alcohol, to give it 'a little punch' that can help him push forward, but if he keeps going like this he'll probably crash. This time, instead of in front of him, the Counselor sits next to him, trying to peek at the datapad.
"How can I be of assistance?"

[determinist]

"Texas and Omega," he says by way of explanation, showing the screen to Aiden. There are very few documents that the Counselor doesn't have access to in this Project, so he has no compunction against showing it to him. "I'm trying to assess how much of her decision-making is influenced by his presence."

The launching of the motorcycle pod was clearly her idea—he'd given her the opportunity, after all—but was barreling down the highway her plan? Was ramping the motorcycle high enough to fire at the Hornets his?

[myagents]

"Well." he shrugs "The easiest way to find the answer would be making frequent check ups while alternating extended periods of time with Omega with periods without him. The host's mind is bound to slightly merge with the AI's, retaining some information and behaviours as intrusive thoughts after removal, but that could be easily addressed with therapy sessions. Regularly this would be damaging with a human host, but due to her nature Agent Texas is resistent enough for this experiment."

He pauses, contemplating the idea of reassuring him by sugarcoating, but after all he knows the Director appreciates a problem solving approach. Is he really committed to go on with fragmenting the Alpha? Price doesn't know, but it's an opportunity that he's never had before. If this was too painful, then the Director would stop in time. It's only right to keep focusing on the experiments.

[determinist]

"Ah," he replies, pulling the datapad closer to himself to look over the data again. "In that case, I believe we will want to assign him to someone lower-level than the current crop of Alpha Squad agents." Alpha Squad agents were the ones they intended to assign the newly-created AIs to, but this particular assignment would have a different goal.

[myagents]

The Counselor tilts his head.

"I'm afraid I'm not understanding, sir. We have already established that AIs are going to be assigned to the most skilled agents - rightfully so, as they're not a type of resource we can afford to waste." he purses his lips, thinking "...Unless you want to create enough AIs for all the agents, but I don't believe it's a good idea: first of all, we cannot be sure that the Alpha is capable of enduring such damage and producing fragments without them getting weaker and more inconsistent with every splintering; second of all, if every agent gets equal treatment they will stop competing, and at that point they will have more time to start questioning our methods, which we absolutely cannot afford anymore."

[determinist]

He sneers dismissively. He doesn't care for getting push back from his second-in-command.

"This is a different situation, Counselor. The AI will remain hers, even when it is not in her possession. The idea is to gauge her reactions without it, not the agent's reactions with it."

[myagents]

"Then perhaps we should simply keep Omega in the lab." he suggests, hiding annoyance "I'm sure I don't have to remind you how Dangerous that specific fragment is. He seems to have the ability to jump from host to host, which might highly damage all our remaining agents."

He knows the Director is not going to care about the other agents' well-being when presented with anything regarding Texas. What is so special about her that makes him think it's fine to be reckless and come up with absolutely garbage plans? This is supposed to be about progress.

"Not to mention that given his ability, Omega could very easily jump back into Texas." he adds, feeling a strange sensation in his stomach urging him to follow it with a sly insinuation "To create Agent Texas first and then a rage fragment that comes back to her, the Alpha must be having quite intense mixed feelings for her…"

[determinist]

Leonard hadn't forgotten that Omega seemed to show this ability. He'd reviewed Omega's hundreds of thousands of lines of code by hand, after all. Still, the Counselor seems fairly assured about things he can't possibly know about.

"How do you know what would happen?" he says, practically snarling. "You act as though his behavior is set in stone. If that's the case, you would be able to tease out which of Agent Texas's decisions were under his influence."

[myagents]

"I am merely informing you about the risks, sir. Determining which decisions that Agent Texas makes can be influenced by Omega is feasible through therapy, as I have suggested earlier." he Narrows his eyes pettily, immediately adding a soft smile underneath to mask his irritation "Wouldn't it more beneficial for you to examine Agent Texas's coding itself, rather than Omega's, since you would like to find which errors to fix in her structure?"

[determinist]

"Hmph."

He looks at the data on the pad once again.

"I already went in and removed the memories of her creation." Anything that would alert her to who he is and what he's doing is gone.

[myagents]

Aiden must resist the urge to roll his eyes. He's aware that the Director's behaviour is an emotional response and that as such he might as well let it happen and observe it, but it's not one of the entertaining or even beneficial emotional responses. He clenches his fist for a moment, but then he realizes.

"I see. That must've been very hard for you." he answers with a fake pitiful tone "Are you sure this isn't what you actually would like to discuss?"

[determinist]

"Don't go starting in on that 'byproduct' garbage," he says. He sighs, clears his throat, and sets the datapad in his lap. "I prefer to keep her in the best condition we can. If temporarily removing Omega will help her, I'm willing to do that. If removing memories will help her, I'm willing to do that, as well."

[myagents]

"If I may, sir: Agent Texas is at peak condition. Her implantation with Omega only has bettered her performance." He glances down at the Director's data pad "I agree that we should experiment more, but we should focus on more important matters at hand, like the Delta AI."

The Director is not going to enjoy Texas being dismissed as less important when compared to anyone, to anything. That is exclusively his problem, as scary as he can get when angry. The way he is attached to such abomination is frustrating, although quite entertaining.

[determinist]

"She is indeed. I don't want anything to get in the way of that."

He sighs in frustration and rubs his hand over his face. He'd been sipping the coffee here and there but now he downs the rest of it.

"Delta," he says. "What is your concern with Delta?"

[myagents]

"He's the newest fragment, the first one created with this method. I figure we should take him as a reference rather than Omega, as he's much more stable. If anything, we should get Omega in a physical unit for the Engineer to repair."

He pauses once again.

"I wonder if we could do that with Texas. She's hardly a fragment--" he stops himself before saying 'byproduct' because he doesn't want to get punched, then sighs "Truth is, it's very unlikely to get her fixed through technical means..."

[determinist]

Leonard stares at him.

"Omega and Texas were repaired by hand and I did a fine job of it. Nothing else needs to be done with those two."

He is holding his coffee cup and now he sets it harshly down on the table.

"Delta needs to be studied, is that what you're getting at? Then you have blanket permission to study him. At least until he's implanted in his assigned agent."

[myagents]

Aiden sighs and lowers his head. He has to give up.

"Of course, sir…"

He gets up and makes himself a cup of tea, staring sadly in his cup as he dips the tea bag in. He wishes these little arguments paid off, that they could get a little closer. Not that he isn't going to respect the Director as his superior, but as much information as he can get from the agents, they won't see him as a friend. The Director could easily find a friend in him, if he let him...

[determinist]

Leonard remains in his seat, studying the datapad once again. This time he doesn't drift off to sleep, but he's sitting stiffly, in a way that shows his annoyance. Aiden is a professional in his own right and all, but Leonard had never had much respect for the mental health field, and he found some of the things Aiden expresses manipulative.

Eventually he realizes he's scanning the words without absorbing anything, over and over, and decides this is no longer productive.

"I'll be on the bridge," he says, standing.

[myagents]

"As you may have noticed, sleep deprivation negatively affects one's performance." He points out with a patronizing tone, but he doesn't want to let this slide, because he sees an opportunity:

he has pulled all nighters with extreme ease in the past, and going through everyone's files soothes him like nothing else, soothes and recharges him to the point that he hardly ever actually sleeps. It's one of the perks of loving your job. The director, as devoted as he is to his job, is not like this, he gets tired. He's fascinatingly human when it comes to this too, and the idea of staying by his side all night and slowly seeing him collapse fills Aiden with joy.

The director seems so ashamed whenever others realize he's tired, but he should loosen up, let Aiden take good care of him. The torture process would bear so many more fruits! He should just listen more, embrace the guidance, and the project would be much more successful.

"I will come with you, however I'm going to have to ask you permission to leave when I am too tired to function as we both have to get up early tomorrow."

Oh, he's not gonna go to sleep anytime soon . He was just trying to be nice, if the Director wants to turn this into a challenge with his petty unavailability then Aiden is going to WIN this challenge. Now he has to add something to mitigate the subtext, not the Director is capable of understanding.

"Plus you know I like to get my beauty sleep."

[determinist]

Leonard responds simply by flicking his wrist. Come, or don't, Leonard doesn't care.

Soon enough they're both on the bridge and Leonard watches the stars stream by the viewport. There is much to do, and much to consider, but Leonard intends to do none of it right now. He intends to stand here for a while, and then check out Texas's file, and then go to bed.

[myagents]

After following him in silence, Price stares at him for a moment, contemplating him contemplating. He must be thinking of Texas as always, feeling the most intense emotions. Despite studying a lot, Aiden is hardly familiar with them. He has felt feelings, has had hook ups, even one relationship, apparently he's never been able of actually comprehending these things. Some things were not teachable, or maybe they were but he never managed to teach himself those things, and a tiny part of him was afraid of people seeing through it, of them judging him as incompetent just for that despite being so obviously superior to them. Maybe being smart is making him miss out on something? Something that the Director is way too proud of having? How dare he?!

Then Aiden spreads out his material on a nearby table pretending to work on his own as he keeps staring at the Director, and finally speaks:

"What behaviours would you say are crucial to pinpoint that Agent Texas needs reprogramming?"

[determinist]

"I simply wonder about where Texas ends and Omega begins," he says. "I wouldn't want to deprive her of his protection for long, however."

In other words: He doesn't plan to change anything about Texas now. Especially since Aiden had been the one to protest about removing Omega at all.